KHACHATUR ABOVYAN ARMENIAN STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY

Today, President Serzh Sargsyan attended the jubilee event organized on the 95th anniversary of the Pedagogical University after Khachatur Abovyan.
The President congratulated the ASPU academic staff, the students, graduates as well as the management of the University on the 95th anniversary of its establishment, wishing them new achievements and productive work.

In his congratulatory speech the President once again emphasized the significant role that a pedagogical educational institution had in the life of every country.

On this occasion, the RA President granted honoured teacher’s titles to the Heads of the Chair of Professional Education and Applied Pedagogy and the Chair of Foreign Literature, Doctor –Professors Aida Topuzyan and Ruzan Tadevosyan for the contribution in the spheres of education and science, dedicated and effective work, as well as awarded medals of acknowledgement to the Doctor of Pedagogy, Professor Tigran Tangamyan and the Dean of the Faculty of Primary Education, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor Heghinei Khacahtryan.

“I would like to congratulate one more time all those, who just received the highest awards of our country. These awards were certainly granted to their true owners, but be sure that this was also an appraisal to the whole team. I am deeply convinced of the fact that you will do everything for all of us to meet the 100th anniversary of the Armenian State Pedagogical University with outstanding achievements. Please, be assured that your work is extremely important and that work is gradually obtaining more and more importance in today’s world. I would like to wish you all productive work”, said the President of the country.

Afterwards, he visited the University’s Museum, where the history of establishment of the University is presented through the archive materials; today’s activities are also introduced here.

Mr. Serzh Sargsyan, accompanied by the Mayor of Yerevan, the Minister of Education and Science, the ASPU Rector, the FIDE President and the representatives of the Chess Federation of Armenia, made a tour around the “Shakhmat”[Chess] institute -a newly opened centre at the Pedagogical University, which is the only institution training chess teachers; here he got familiarised with the with the environment and programmes of the new institute.

The institute is a separated structural subdivision of the ASPU; leading specialists of various fields of science are involved in this research centre; they will be conducting research activities in regards with psychological, sociological, educational and other composites of chess.

“As the President of the Chess Federation of Armenia I am glad and thankful to see that you are paying special attention to chess and are always undertaking new initiatives. It is not accidental that our friend, the President of FIDE Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is present here today; and it is absolutely not a surprise that our experience is a point of interests for other countries, and this at least means that we are on the right way. And I want to believe that this will be continuous”, Mr. Serzh Sargsyan stated during the visit to the newly opened “Shakhmat” [Chess] research institute.

In his turn, the Rector of the Armenian State Pedagogical University Mr. Rouben Mirzakhanyan congratulated on the 95th anniversary of the university that has almost a century-old history, emphasizing that the pedagogical smithery is rich due to its more than one hundred fifty thousand graduates, among whom there are thousands of benefactors in the spheres of education and culture, and what the most important is that Armenian teachers graduate from this university; those teachers had been educating and bringing up numerous generations of the centuries- old nation.

“Devoted people with scientific potential have been teaching here, throughout many years our Chairs had been headed by outstanding persons who had exceptional contribution in our history. And today, the best traditions continue; as six Academicians and six Correspondent Members of the RA NAS, one hundred and three Doctors of Sciences, three hundred sixty Candidates, one hundred forty Professors and three hundred Associate Professors teach at this University.

In addition, Mr. Rouben Mirzakhanyan mentioned that in the upcoming years the University had set serious objectives and efforts would be invested would be done to accomplish them.

In the recent years, the University has been paying major attention to its international relations by cooperating with the World’s best Pedagogical and not only pedagogical universities.

“We should become an integral part and become and internationally renowned educational establishment; certain steps have already been made in this direction. By the end of the year, a special pedagogical laboratory will be opened by the joint efforts of the University of Minnesota, as well as a cooperation agreement is planed with the San Jose University”, added the Rector.

Likewise, the Head of the University highlighted the opportunity of awarding double certificates jointly with a few of the leading universities well-known all over the world.

The Rector also expressed his acknowledgments to the RA President Serzh Sargsyan and the Founding Director of the Chess Academy of Armenia, the ASPU Head of the Chair of Chess and Sports Mr. Smbat Lputyan for the establishment of the newly opened “Shakhmat” [Chess] research institute, noting that it was the best present to the University within the framework of its 95th anniversary.

“When our foreign friends are inquiring about the scientific research activities conducted at the University and in the country, they are finding it particularly remarkable that the Chess is a component in the secondary education system in the RA, and that it’s already two years, the chess laboratory has been opened at the Pedagogical University.”

Further on, the FIDE President, honoured ASPU Doctor Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who was also present at the event organized on the 95th anniversary of establishment of the University, considered his participation therein as a great honour and on behalf of the institution he manages and multi-millions of chess players, marked the day of opening the new “Shakhmat” [Chess] research institute as historical.

Once again the FIDE President reminded their slogan to have 1 billion chess players in 2020, which means 1 billion clever people; a number of programmes are being implemented to achieve this objective, and one of the notable programmes is “Chess at school”. And today another notable programme was outlined in form of activities of the newly opened institute at the ASPU.

“The RA Chess Federation, the Academy and the Armenian School of Chess are popularizing this ancient sport all over the world. Chess is innovative, and in the 21st century not only the natural resources are fostering the development of society and economy, but also this kind of sport. May be if compared with other countries, Armenia is not rich with natural resources, but it has massive national and intellectual potential; you have no competitors in the Chess.”

Keeping the already set tradition, the President of the Chess Federation of Armenia, the RA President Serzh Sargsyan and the President of the International Federation of Chess Kirsan Ilumzhinov played the chess at the new research institute “Shakhmat” [Chess]. The three-minute blitz game ended in a draw.